A Brief History of a Deaf Princess

Updated on March 29, 2012

Princess Alice of Battenberg

Princess Alice born on
February 25, 1885 to the full name of Princess Victoria Alice
Elizabeth Julie Marie. Alice was the first born daughter of Princess
Victoria and the first great-grandchild to Queen Victoria.

Princess Alice was not by
any means the only deaf royal in those times. There were several
others but Princess Alice is much more famous because she held such a
pivotal role in WWI. Her husband, Andrew, began their marriage as the
Prince of Greece. Their wedding is considered to be the last large
gathering of royals since WWI. In 1917 Prince Andrew became King
Andrew when his brother King Constantine refused to support the
Allies in the war and was abdicated. After Andrew led Greece in to
the fight WWI was soon over and so Constantine took over the throne
again.

Constantine soon lead a
campaign against Turkey. During this time Princess Alice's father
passed away. Alice rushed to London to be with her family, she took
her youngest child, Philip, with her. As Alice was out of country the
Turks had demolished the Greek army. When she returned she found the
people of Greece blamed the royal family for the defeat. They had all
been imprisoned on the charge of treason.

Alice spent many a night
trying to appease the the kings and queens of Europe. She wrote
letter after letter asking them to help her save her husbands life.
Eventually her wish was granted and her husband was freed. Their life
did not improve too much after this though. The family found
themselves living in squalor in France. Eventually all of Alice's
children grew and began to marry away. Alice also felt that her and
her husband were growing apart, they were simply too different.

Alice and Andrew decided
they needed to live separately. Andrew moved to a party city in
southern France while Alice moved to a small Greek island where she
decided to found a Nunnery. When WWII erupted Alice was visiting
Athens. Her family begged her to leave and she eventually did but
only after much fighting. Her son Prince Philip eventually married
Princess Elizabeth, who later became the Queen of England. In 1969
Princess Alice died in Buckingham Palace at the age of 84.

Although Alice was never
queen she did have a key part in WWI. She showed great perseverance
in learning not only spoken English but German and Greek as well.
Living the tumultuous life of a royal in a war torn Europe she showed
how much strength a deaf person can have.

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